


presumptuous

by boneflower (jjjat3am)



Category: Naruto
Genre: Kinda, M/M, Road Trips, Sasuke is bad at feelings and worse at being alone
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-10-28
Updated: 2015-10-28
Packaged: 2018-04-28 15:15:03
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,162
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5095391
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/jjjat3am/pseuds/boneflower
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>
  <i>presumptuous</i><br/>[pri-zuhmp-choo-uh s]<br/>adjective
</p>
<p>
  <i>1. full of, characterized by, or showing presumption or readiness to presume in conduct or thought, as by saying or doing something without right or permission.<br/>2. unwarrantedly or impertinently bold; forward. </i>
</p>
<p>Sasuke has only been on his solitary road trip for about a week when Jūgo catches up. </p>
<p>The biggest surprise is that Sasuke doesn't really mind.</p>
            </blockquote>





	presumptuous

**Author's Note:**

> I have no excuses. I just really love Jūgo and Sasuke is fun to write.

 

 

Sasuke has been traveling for a week when Jūgo catches up.

 

He can feel him long before he sees him. Sasuke will never be a good sensor, but Jūgo’s chakra is distinctive, not impressive in light of some people he could name, but monstrous still. It stands out in the quiet forest like a beacon.

 

He could avoid it, if he wanted to. After all, Jūgo’s went with Orochimaru to the Northern hideout and it was Sasuke’s decision to continue his path alone. He’d asked for no compainions.

 

It’s not long until the leaves behind him rustle and he stops, turns, palming the handle of a kunai, the cloth of his kimono fluttering in the wind.

 

Jūgo looks nervous. It’s unusual, Sasuke thinks, that a man with Jūgo’s history has remained so completely easy to read. The man shuffles his feet before his empty gaze, opens his mouth and shuts it again, struggling for words. There’s not forehead protector anywhere on his person, no signs of any affiliation.

 

Jūgo sends a pleading look his way, but Sasuke doesn’t care enough to decipher it. They watch each other in the middle of a dirt path that goes on through the trees, going somewhere. Sasuke doesn’t know where. He hasn’t really consulted a map, just wanted to get away from it all.

 

Jūgo looks pale and worn, dark circles under his eyes, like he’s ran all the way here, chasing after Sasuke. He doesn’t care to think about that either.

 

After a moment, when it becomes clear that Jūgo won’t say anything at all, Sasuke turns on his heel and starts walking. There are still a few hours of daylight left and more ground to cover till he beds down for the night.

 

Jūgo follows. Half a step behind him, on his unprotected left. Sasuke almost snorts at the implication, but the wind picks up, playing with the empty left sleeve of his kimono. It’s presumptuous that Jūgo believes his left side is helpless, and that he needs Jūgo’s protection. Worse still that Jūgo believes that Sasuke will welcome his presence.

 

They walk on in silence.

 

 

*

 

 

By right, Sasuke should be annoyed at the intrusion. He’s asked to be alone on this path and yet Jūgo is here.

 

But then again, he doesn’t really feel much of anything except numb. Hasn’t since he’s stepped through Konoha’s gates. He’s gone on this journey to think things over, find his purpose, but he finds himself not thinking much of anything.

 

Jūgo’s tall shadow follows his and the novelty of it occupies him until the sun sets.

 

 

*

 

 

They make a small camp for the evening; settle down in a clearing near a bubbling stream. Jūgo gathers firewood and Sasuke lights it with a match. He’s almost surprised he’s remembered to pack a set. Or maybe someone else had when he wasn’t looking. He’s used to manipulating his elemental chakra, the simple campfire jutsu as easy as breathing. Or, it used to be.

 

An old memory surfaces, of fear and anger and ice, and a boy who could make seals one-handed. It’s been a long time since Sasuke has thought of Haku. He could do that too, probably, but there hasn’t been enough time to practice, not when he’d wanted to put as much distance between him and humanity as possible.

 

He’s got plenty of time now.

 

It’s a novel idea. He’s only ever known rush; pushing yourself to your limits to achieve power by any means necessary. Even now, it rankles that he’s so much weaker than before, his missing arm a disadvantage he couldn’t have accounted for. If he were anyone else he’d be worried about being so unprotected.

 

But, he’s Sasuke Uchiha, if that name even means anything to anyone now. His Mangekyou is intact; a perfect defense against almost anyone. The black flames don’t need handseals, not like his fire jutsus or the lightning he’s inherited from his teacher. He’s plenty protected. Even from Jūgo.

 

He spares a glance at the man, sitting across him at the campfire. Jūgo is staring intensely at the flames and the firelight dances through his orange hair, turning it darker, almost bloodlike. He looks up and meets Sasuke’s eyes. Sasuke wonders what he sees.

 

In any case, it’s enough for Jūgo to gain some small amount of courage.

 

“I’m sorry I went with Orochimaru,” he says, and once again Sasuke can read him like a book; regret, discomfort and no small amount of fear. “You’re Kimimaro’s legacy, not the man he loved above all else. I swore to protect you, Sasuke.”

 

It’s sheer willpower that keeps his face from twisting into a grimace. The nerve of him, to assume Sasuke was helpless!

 

Jūgo seems to sense his mood change and hurries on.

 

“My mental state has grown more and more unstable as time passed. I almost couldn’t contain myself anymore. Neither could Karin’s chains. And Orochimaru…” Jūgo pauses and he frowns, “…he just laughed.”

 

There it was. The entirely selfish reason. That, Sasuke could understand. That, he could trust. People with unselfish notions were often incomprehensible to him, which is why, in hindsight, Naruto was always going to be his blind spot.

 

Sasuke nods, just once. Jūgo waits to see if he’ll say anything else and then sighs when nothing is forthcoming. He pulls out his bedroll and curls up, his back to Sasuke and the campfire. Sasuke is taking first watch, even though he’s certain that there’s nothing in the forest that’d be able to lay a hand on either of them.

 

Jūgo is tall enough that he’s probably taller than Sasuke even when he’s curled up like this, positioned to be as small as possible as he sleeps. Sasuke could cut him in half with his tanto and Jūgo would never see it coming.

 

The campfire crackles. Somewhere in the forest an owl hoots, signaling the end of its evening hunt. Sasuke can’t remember if that’s a bad sign or not. He doesn’t really care.

 

Jūgo’s chakra explodes in an oppressive wave, filling the small clearing. The body under the bedroll turns misshapen, big enough to start tearing at the seams. There’s no way to see the expression on his face, but Sasuke can guess.  The forest around them falls silent; everything holds his breath. Sasuke sighs, quietly.

 

“Sleep,” he says, his voice carrying a note of command. It’s the first time he’s spoken all day.

 

Jūgo’s chakra flickers briefly and then recedes. Jūgo takes a shaky breath, but doesn’t turn around. After a few minutes his breaths even out in peaceful sleep. He doesn’t wake up until they change shifts.

 

 

*

 

 

Sasuke supposes that his fate is to always be someone’s replacement.

 

 

*

 

There's no getting around it; Sasuke is bored.

 

He'd underestimated how un-stimulating just aimless walking could be, especially since the landscape changed only minimally around them. Before, he’d been so motivated to reach his goal that there was always more training to be done, more of something that would bring him power. Now, there was no goal. He trained still, of course he did, but even that was more habit than actual need.

 

He found himself glancing surreptitiously at Jūgo more and more. He must have been as bored as Sasuke was, but he never showed it, except for the occasional flicker of his chakra that Sasuke quieted with a flare of his own.

 

Sasuke supposed he could start a conversation, to pass the time. Except he didn’t exactly know how.

 

He’d been trained as a powerhouse, not for infiltration, not that he was especially chatty before. Maybe if it hadn’t been for the massacre things would be different. Sasuke used to be a happy child, bright and engaging, and people used to like him, before. He’d been friends with other clan children.

 

Those were the deaths that hurt the most when Itachi captured him in his genjutsu, right behind his parents.

 

What would he and Jūgo even talk about? Food preferences? They mostly ate what they caught in the forest. All their mutual friends were either dead or with Orochimaru. Their pasts? Yeah, no.

 

So, Sasuke wasn’t a conversationalist and Jūgo wasn’t exactly a social butterfly either. They walked on in silence.

 

 

*

 

 

The first time Sasuke attempted to strike up a conversation about something that wasn’t camp or logistics related, Jūgo was so surprised he’d tripped and almost impaled himself on a kunai he’d been using to cut down some branches.

 

Sasuke spent the next ten minutes being chased by a giant monster made from sage chakra, so it was a bad first attempt on all accounts.

 

The next one was better.

 

 

*

 

 

Jūgo liked watermelon.

 

 

*

 

Before, Sasuke didn’t really think about his family that much. Well, he thought of Itachi, near constantly, of his death and how Sasuke was going to achieve it. But as a rule he didn’t think about his other family, except for screaming nightmares that caught him unprepared (always unprepared) in the middle of the night. 

 

It blindsided him then, when he saw a sign advertising udon noodles and suddenly remembered his mother.

 

He used to help her when she made the thin noodles from scratch, adding water to the wheat mixture while she mixed and then watching her cut thin slices with almost surgical precision. He didn’t think to wonder at that time, if the precision was from her weapons training or only because she was a particularly good cook. But she’d made them for every special occasion in their family, from Sasuke’s admission into the academy to Itachi’s graduation.

 

“Sasuke?” Jūgo’s voice broke him out of his musings. “Everything okay?”

 

Sasuke looked around and almost flinched, realizing he’d stopped in the middle of the street like a complete amateur and that people were beginning to notice.

 

He doesn’t know what made him say it. Maybe it’s because Jūgo was watching him with so much concern. Or maybe it’s because they were as far from Konoha as was possible on land and the cold wind was freezing through his thick coat.

 

“My mother really liked udon.”

 

He saw Jūgo frown from the corner of his eye, the way his gaze moved up to study the sign above them.

 

“Oh…do you want to go in?”

 

Sasuke hasn’t eaten udon since the night his parents died. There was a reason he’d been almost glad for his teammate’s preoccupation with ramen. There was no reason to break the habit now. They’d already bought most of their supplies and Sasuke was eager as always to get as far away from humanity as possible. There was no reason to go in and yet…

 

“…okay.”

 

The noodles were delicious, but they’re not as good as his mother’s.

 

 

*

 

 

They got ambushed somewhere in the Land of Silence and the bandits they face are unusually strong, thought they’re no match for them. In the end, Jūgo convinced him to take them to the nearest sheriff’s office instead of killing them.

 

This turned out to be a better idea than expected, because the bandits have a frankly substantial bounty on their heads and they could really use the money, because Sasuke’s sealed up stores are shrinking swiftly. And the people from the village are so grateful they cook them a big dinner and make a party out of it. They slip away under cover of darkness, but not until they’ve eaten their fill.

 

Somehow this keeps happening, until their reputation is enough to deter any prospective ambushes and Sasuke can finally get some peace and quiet.

 

This only lasts until a young woman blocks their path and tearfully begs them to rescue her village from the missing nin terrorizing its borders.

 

“Please Avenger-san! Please help us!” she cries and as if on cue her two small children look up at him with identically devastating puppy eyes.

 

Sasuke briefly considers grabbing Jūgo and running.

 

But, both Naruto and Sakura would be upset if he didn’t help and he’s, hopefully, self-aware enough now to know that their opinion still means the world to him. He glances at Jūgo, who unsurprisingly looks on the verge of tears himself. The civilians probably can’t tell, but Sasuke can see the miniscule wobble of his bottom lip and his chakra flickering dangerously.

 

They took the job. Then a few more. And before they know it, they’re full-fledged bounty hunters.

 

The Bingo Books has them listed as the Avenger and his Monstrous Companion, and Sasuke has never been more embarrassed.

 

 

*

 

 

Still, it feels good, tracking down criminals and bringing them in, like he has a goal again, not just aimlessly drifting from place to place. Sometimes, he thinks about the Uchiha run Police Force, now obsolete, and how he would have been a good fit there.

 

 

*

 

 

It’s inevitable that they’d eventually find someone stronger than they are.

 

Sasuke can imagine Itachi scolding him for being arrogant. It turned out that being one of the strongest beings in the Shinobi nations doesn’t mean that you’ll be strongest everywhere else too. And they’re far away from home now, beyond the border of the Land of the Earth.

 

They won, but just barely, and in the destruction created by the fight Sasuke fainted from chakra exhaustion like a common civilian, splashing into a rapidly expanding pool of blood. It’s honestly embarrassing.

 

He woke up an unidentifiable time later, warm, exhausted and feeling a murderous headache. But he’s safe and his head is resting on something soft. There are a number of things about the situation that are unusual, but the fingers drawing slow meandering paths through his hair might just take the cake.

 

“Isn’t that a bit presumptuous?” he asks. The fingers stop abruptly, and the embarrassed spike in Jūgo’s chakra has him hiding a smirk. “You’re turning into Karin.”

 

“Oh, Sasuke-kun, I’m so glad you’re alive,” Jūgo says, voice pitched into falsetto, a good imitation of the simpering tone their former teammate sometimes used. Sasuke can’t help it; he laughs. He has to shut his eyes quickly, because the movement makes him dizzy, but it feels good anyway.

 

He hasn’t laughed in a while.

 

“Are we safe?”

 

“Yeah,” Jūgo says and shrugs. Sasuke feels the movement and is surprised to realize his head is in Jūgo’s lap. He’s really out of it, if it took him so long to notice. “That was very stupid, you know.”

 

Goading a man twice his size with two wicked looking swords and a massive load of chakra was probably a very Naruto move, but Sasuke had just been so bored, he couldn’t help it. The cuts and forming bruises on his body sting as he shifts to make himself more comfortable.

 

“It was a little bit stupid,” he concedes eventually and Jūgo huffs out a laugh above him. “But you were there for back-up, so it’s fine.”

 

“Yeah?” Jūgo asks, voice lower than Sasuke has ever heard it. He’d take more time to analyze it, but he’s already falling back to sleep.

 

“Mhm,” he murmurs, turning his head so it’s buried in the cloth of Jūgo’s shirt. After a moment, he feels Jūgo’s hands smooth down his hair again, but he’s asleep before he can warn him that it’s futile. His hair always does his own thing, no matter how many times you brush it down.

 

 

*

 

 

It’s hard to say if anything changes between them after that. Maybe Sasuke is a little bit less guarded. Maybe Jūgo is a little bit calmer. Maybe they walk a little bit closer together on their path.

 

 

*

 

 

The north has cold winters. It’s not unexpected, and Sasuke isn’t exactly used to being cold, but he doesn’t expect the way his bones start to feel brittle after a few hours in the whipping wind or the way his blood pounds heavy in his ears.

 

Jūgo is unaffected, blinking placidly behind a high-necked coat. It’s difficult to hide his predicament from him, even if Sasuke would have preferred to hide how cold he feels.

 

He hates showing weakness, even to Jūgo.

 

They stop in the early evening, as much as it is the evening with the light still bright in the sky. There are only a few hours of darkness in this land and Sasuke distrusts it. Surprisingly, they find an empty cabin, a shadow in the endless white, seemingly abandoned, and break in to bed down for the night.

 

There are no beds, only hard wooden floors where they place their bedrolls. Jūgo puts his closer than usual, side-by-side.

 

Sasuke lies down and maybe it’s a testament to how cold he is, but he doesn’t protest when Jūgo pushes into his personal space, warm like a furnace against his back, his big body curled around Sasuke’s smaller one. Sasuke puts his freezing feet on his shins and listens vindictively as Jūgo hisses out a breath.

 

Damn nature chakra users and their unnatural body heat.

 

Sasuke is still comfortably warm a few hours later when he draws his kunai to slash the throat of a rampaging polar bear ready to sink its teeth into his head.

 

The cute fluffy white bears can talk, not that it helps them much, because they only use their voice to inform Sasuke and Jūgo that they’ll be eaten. They’re big and have razor sharp teeth, but Sasuke doesn’t take kindly to being woken from a good night’s sleep.

 

The next morning they unanimously decide to head back to less snow covered pastures.

 

The sleeping arrangements stay though, long after they leave the snow behind.

 

Sasuke tries not to worry about how badly he sleeps without a warm body tucked behind him.

 

 

*

 

 

He’s not surprised when Jūgo kisses him, a brief and warm press of chapped lips against the backdrop of a crackling campfire.

 

He’s surprised that he kisses back.

 

 

*

 

 

“Was kissing you presumptuous?”

 

“Probably.”

 

“How about kissing you again?”

 

“You’ll do whatever you want anyway.”

 

“Sasuke, you know that isn’t true.”

 

“You followed me when I told you not to. If you kissed me again I probably couldn’t stop you.”

 

“You didn’t tell me to leave.”

 

“I’m not telling you to not kiss me either.”

 

 

*

 

 

They’re still quiet when they walk, more often than not. Neither of them is a fan of small talk.

 

Still, the silence is comfortable and even if Sasuke will never admit it, the company is pleasing, in more ways than one.

 

Jūgo is not loud and declarative like his former teammates, but he’s persistent and presumptuous, and he patiently worms his way under Sasuke’s skin and carves himself a Jūgo shaped place in Sasuke’s battered heart.

 

Sasuke lets it go.

 

“What’s so funny?”

 

Sasuke realizes he’s staring at Jūgo, and he’s not embarrassed enough to look away. Instead he keeps looking, noting with satisfaction that it paints a pink blush across Jūgo’s cheeks.

 

“Sasuke?”

 

“It’s nothing. I’m just being presumptuous.”

 

He faces forward, ignoring Jūgo’s concerned sideways glances, as his mouth twitches upwards in a smile.

 

Against all odds, he’s glad he’s not alone.

 

 

 

**Author's Note:**

> Hope you enjoyed this as much as I did writing it. Reviews are treasured, let me know what you think?


End file.
